Another Cranky Response to Project Runway

I really thought last year's Project Runway was the bottom of the barrel. Yikes. I was wrong. This season has brought us nothing but black/gray/brown sad sack designs, a constantly shifting judging panel that only highlighted the fact that nobody in fashion wanted to stay in LA for longer than absolutley necessary, and some truly baffling decisions by the judges. I absolutely do not understand what Althea's appeal is. To me, her designs always look poorly-fitted and -constructed; I thought they were baggy & bunched up messes, to say nothing of her poor model, who spent the entire season with her chest unsupported.

What really hocks me off, though, is that she skated through the last challenge with a dress that clearly got the most negative response out of anybody. I've really enjoyed Gordana as a person more than as a designer, but her look got great reviews this week--it really seemed like the judges had already made up their minds, because based on the feedback that she and Althea received last night, it is inconceivable that Gordy would be the one to get auf'ed. And if that's the case--why bother with the challenge at all? Why waste an hour of my life with a task that's rendered completley pointless at the whims of the Klum-Seal? I mean, Wendy FUCKING Pepper spent the entire first season at the bottom of the pile, then whipped up one marginally non-awful dress that happened to appeal to Nancy O'Dell, and skated by to Fashion Week, while the eminently creative Austin Scarlett had to pack up his hair rollers and go. If one decent week was enough to save Wendy FUCKING Pepper (and yes, I always refer to her by her full name) over Austin's weeks of consistency, it should have been enough to save Gordana. Who, by the way, is nowhere near as awful as Wendy FUCKING Pepper, because really--who could be?

OK, a little levity so I don't feel like such a grouch--the preview for next week, with Carol Hannah feeling seriously ill, made me laugh a little. Not at her, at the reactions of her competitors:

Tim Gunn: Carol Hannah's sick, poor thing.
Althea & Irina: [overly sweet, clearly insincere] Oh noooooo...
Tim Gunn: It's contagious.
Althea & Irina: [dead serious]: Oh, nooooo.

The humor probably doesn't come across in writing, but the complete 180 they both do, instantaneously & simultaneously from trying to appear sympathetic, to feeling utter dread is fantastic.